MyNoos

Okay, so it takes a bit for me to get worked about some new-fangled technology being the relatively snobbish and sophisticated technocrat I am (ahem).  But from time to time, I come across something interesting and feel like spreading the word a little.

My newest discovery is a site called MyNoos.com.  It's sort of a hybrid mix of user ratings and feedback mashed up with content references and quick links.  At least, that's my view.  I'm sure if you check it out, you'll jump to your own set of conclusions.

What do you think about new navigation and content referencing schemes like this one?

Deconstructing TFS SQL

This week while trying to get some custom build behaviors kicking, I had a chance to poke around the TFS SQL databases.  Just trying to unwind the schema makes for some pretty scary driving.

Whoever was actually working on these databases needs a refresher in their database skills.  They use multiple names for the same logical key, the don't use DRI, and there is no standardization or reuse to speak of.  Frankly it is a miracle the thing functions.  And pretty obvious why it can be as slow as it has been known to be.

This in no way is a knock on the product.  It is a huge undertaking, long overdue, and a valiant first attempt.  But it has a long way to go, and recruiting some actual database talent into the TFS product group couldn't hurt.

For example, trying to figure out how to list the items in a changeset was difficult until you unspool that VersionTo and VersionFrom in a namespace are really changeset ids.  Whoa!  That just happened.  No kidding.

Anyway, perhaps once a roadmap is fully laid out, I'll be more forgiving, but right now, it seems like something stinky and gross.  But I guess it works, and beggars can't be choosers.

Wanna know how to get any other internals from TFS, I'm collecting a ton.  All you have to do is ask...

Customizing TFS

On my current gig we are using TFS to manage project lifecycle, version control, and quality assurance.  While there are still quite a few enhancements we are waiting for in much anticipated service pack, the current version is humming nicely.

We found that all the templates had things we liked, and things we didn't like.  Those that collected more information were too bulky to use.  Those that were simply to understand, didn't collect the data points we required.  Which brings us to customizating the work item templates.

For myself, the key to understanding work items templates (WITs) was just mapping Fields to Controls, and then worrying about the Transitions seperately.  The States got in the way in most cases, because I tend to think that most information should be configured by the user not the system.  I recognize that will be taken as a religious statement by many, but oh well.

To start with, we mapped all the data for our modified WIT into the most appropriate field.  In many cases, we simply borrowed the fields from other templates and then used them for our purposes.  After we had all the fields which represented the data we wanted to collect, we were able to figure out which ones had information displayed and how it looked on-screen.  This was pretty straight-forward and totally subjective.

With the data being collected and used on-screen we were then able to get fancy by using Transitions to restrict input, validate states, and in some cases, default some data.  We only used States in a few situations.

If you'd like to see our modified WITs, shoot me an email.

Why didn't I use the process editors?  Because we were shooting for the lightest possible learning curve, smallest number of adjustments, and quickest turn-around.  If you, like me, just have some work to get done and want to start collecting some data, I advise steering clear of the fancy tools too.  Sometimes the simple approach really is the best.

Team Foundation Server

My recent efforts to deploy a Team Foundation Server have paid off.  This is totally against the best efforts of the actual product to foil my attempts.

Seriously, if you just read the documentation provided to do the installation you will end up pulling your hair out.  However, if you wade through a slew of blog posts, forums messages, and other references it is possible to realize this product with its outstanding feature set.

The key that would have made this whole thing easier for me, would have been more information about the precise integration between Sharepoint Services and TFS.  Specific areas that are important are how the security credentials for each should be configured and why, and a means to allow the Sharepoint data sources to be independantly configured.  The two-step of requiring Sharepoint to be setup but not configured and requiring the TFS installation to configure the Sharepoint data sources is really confusing, error-prone, and just plain unfriendly.

In any event, I finally have VPC images with working installations of TFS so I can start working through specific process template customizations and so forth.  Wish me luck!

It's coming! TFS is coming!

Having been anticipating this release generally for many years and this product specifically for almost two years, I was very pleased to read that Team Foundation Server is in RC mode.

This product will definitely impact the development processes being bandied about by the masses. [rubs hands with glee...]

New Amazon Controls

If you are reading this on blog.tempusfugate.com then you have probably noticed the cool new additions to the template.  Namely the two new sections on Books & Movies.  These are examples of a new control I've made available that uses Amazon Wishlists to store collections of books, movies, and cds.  Using the Amazon Wishlist service means I can maintain as many lists as I want, and they can hold any Amazon products I desire.  So I have lists for Top Movies, Mentoree Reading Lists, and Favorites Tunes.  Since they come from Amazon, the details are provided their service and can include information like artist, publication or release date, track information, director, cast, and so forth.

The script that draws the controls is embedded using an ASPX wrapper around a special control I've created in C# using the .NET Framework.  You can download the assemblies here or just reference the wrapper directly as I have done.  If you are hosting your own pages, you might want to pull down the assemblies and embed them directly within your own ASPX pages.  By referencing the control directly in your own host environment, it will improve the performance and make it easier for you to customize the look and feel.  Let me know if you'd like access to the assemblies.

If you aren't capable of hosting your own ASPX pages, then you can reference the wrapper page I have provide at scripts.neodiem.com.
To embed the script, add the following code to your template:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.neodiem.com/showlist.aspx?
showdetails=false
&showimages=false
&numberofitems=5
&showrandomitems=true
&listid=11C766M4WUWVW">
</script>

You can then change the listid property to point to a list of your own choosing.

The output of the wrapper is JavaScript which will render the items in the WishList as an UnOrdered List.  You can control the look and feel using ClassNames.

Feel free to play with these as much as you like and use them to host your own lists of Amazon items!  You can choose how many items to show, whether they show in random order, and the level of detail associated with each entry.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Another Google-bit

The onward march of Google towards usefulness and necessity continues. A new beta service called Google Transit will let you plan your transit routes with precise. It is an excellent example of combining two information sources into one extremely useful resource. Currently, they are supporting the city of Portland but plan to expand to other cities soon.

Tidbits & Morsels

The list of tidbits that I wanted to take time to mention on my blog is getting longer so I needed to clean house a little bit.

First up is Openomy. These guys are offering 1GB of free space online. They don't appear to have much of a business model, just a keen sense of "do-it-right"-edness. That's a technical term.

The coolest fact about Openomy is that it appears to be running solely out of a desire to build something useful, learn some lessons, and potential help some people. This may not sound ordinary, but in the universe of online ventures, it can be anything but normal. I recommend you check them out. It's worth making note of their upbeat and positive attitudes and attention to detail. Now, if they'd just make the web services leap...

My next morsel is about Google Analytics. Analytics is a web analysis system that provides site publishers with traffic metrics and marketing data. As you can see, the output reports are really excellent and detailed.

This is based on technology originally developed by Urchin that Google acquired in March. The coolest thing is how smoothly Analytics integrates with the popular AdWords system. Even if you don’t use AdWords you can still use Analytics by adding a simple script to your site.

There are a few other juicy bits still to come, but I'll save them for next time.

Secure Browsing

Recently my little sister had here internet shut-off for supposedly downloading illegal files.  Now to be clear, my little sister wouldn't do something like that (she wouldn't even know how).  But evidently the internet provider,Cox, decided she was doing something inappropriate and was therefore taking it out on her.  Stupid, ignorant, and totally uncool.

I travel a lot and in most of the hotels I have to share an internet connection with a couple hundred of my closest strangers.

These two situations are why I use a secure tunnel which secures my web-surfing and makes it more or less anonymous.  For my own choice I use a private SSH provider and the VanDyke Entunnel software package.  However there are several new alternatives on the market.

For the Google-lovers, there is the Google Secure Access (Beta) which can be found at http://wifi.google.com/download.html.  This primarily allows people living in San Franscisco to surf using a secure connection through googles servers.

For those who want to deal with a company for whom this is their sole business, you might try MySecureISP which you can find at www.mysecureisp.com.  Similar service, but works anywhere, costs $6 a month.  If you require full-time secure internet access via a plethora of providers, they might be a good fit for you.

If you want to be on the bleeding edge and are really concerned about being anonymous and so forth, then you can jump on the JAP bandwagon from http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html.  This is really neat technology that is still a work in-progress.  However it offers high-degrees of secure browsing and a variety of experiences.  Plus you get to support education, further the privacy movement, blah, blah, blah.  Check it out.

Lastly, if Dave ever gets off his rear-end there will be another addition which you can all check out.  Feel free to post a comment to let him know you want him to stop slacking off and finish the thing already!